Austin Ekeler joined Sports Illustrated on behalf of Dairy Queen and explained why he's ready to work with new Los Angeles Chargers head coach, Jim Harbaugh.
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00:00 I got probably, no, not probably, I have the best fantasy running back and probably the
00:12 best fantasy GM in the game.
00:14 Oh wow, wow.
00:15 Austin Eckland.
00:16 We might have to check that last one, but the first one for sure, for sure.
00:20 Last year was a down year, but hey, we're going to bounce back from that and I'm looking
00:23 forward to being back and finding a new home, whether it's back with my same team or maybe
00:28 somewhere else, but making an impact in the fantasy world, but not only there, but on
00:31 the field as well.
00:32 So talking about the Chargers, obviously they got a new coach.
00:36 Yes.
00:37 Coach Harbaugh.
00:38 Yes.
00:39 Is that, I mean, and I know it's a business.
00:40 We play, we don't really care about the coaches.
00:42 We want to make sure the business is right.
00:44 We do care about the coaches.
00:45 We do.
00:46 But the business has got to be right for us first.
00:48 Well there's two sides.
00:49 Okay, talk to me, talk to me, talk to me, because maybe I did something wrong.
00:52 Well here's the thing, I feel like when you're a younger player, you're more susceptible
00:55 to diversity and trying, because you got a little bit longer time in your career, right?
01:00 Yes.
01:01 I'm going into year eight.
01:02 So it goes from quantitative to qualitative, right?
01:05 I'm looking for good qualities, like, hey, how are you going to use me, right?
01:08 Am I going to be on the field?
01:10 Hey, what's the culture like?
01:11 What's the leadership look like?
01:13 What is, who is the head coach?
01:14 Do I mesh well with that type of style?
01:17 And then absolutely, the business side comes into it, the quantitative side too, because
01:20 you don't want to get low balled.
01:21 You can't mess up the market for everyone else.
01:22 Exactly.
01:23 You can't get in on that business, absolutely.
01:25 But there's two sides now.
01:26 You get older, like I said, you're young, you got a little more leeway, right?
01:29 You can go to a place, you know, where they're trying to rebuild and stuff like that.
01:33 Rebuilding right now for me is like, ah.
01:34 Yeah, I don't got time.
01:35 I ain't got time to rebuild.
01:36 You don't got time.
01:37 No, no, no, no, we're trying to win now.
01:38 Let's talk a little bit about the business side when it comes to a running back.
01:42 Obviously last off season, there was a lot of the RBs upset, trying to get their due
01:47 paper.
01:48 Yeah.
01:49 Emmitt Smith, Jerome Bettis, I got a chance to speak with them a couple months ago, and
01:52 they said there's a lot of disrespect going into the value of the running back.
01:58 Yeah.
01:59 Speak a little bit about that.
02:00 Yeah, absolutely.
02:01 So what we were pissed off about beginning of the season is we had Saquon, we had Josh
02:06 Jacobs who just came off of 1600 rushing yards, like 13 touchdowns or something like that.
02:11 And then Tony Pollard who just came off of one of his best years too.
02:13 And so, and they're on the first contract.
02:15 So after that, okay, great.
02:17 I've been building up and these guys have been, Josh Jacobs has been a staple of the
02:20 Raiders for a while.
02:21 So it's like, okay, he's coming up to contract year.
02:23 Hey, Josh, we're not going to pay you.
02:25 Not only are we not going to pay you, we're going to give you one year.
02:27 You get to take all the risk and you don't get to negotiate your contract.
02:31 You don't get, this is your number.
02:33 You don't get to go talk to any other teams.
02:35 You don't get to do any of that.
02:36 Here you go.
02:37 Yep.
02:38 And we're saying, all the other running backs, like you can't keep doing this to all three
02:41 of those guys.
02:42 Right, right.
02:43 And so it's like, it's not just the running backs, it's the players in general.
02:46 It's terrible for us because we're trying to continue to extend our career, make an
02:49 impact.
02:50 We have success.
02:51 We want to continue to spread that and lock in some years because of that.
02:55 Reap the benefits of us giving to the game.
02:58 And so we got together because it's like, we are getting disrespected and they're treating
03:01 us like, oh, well, these guys don't last.
03:03 You can go look at Christian.
03:04 He's in year seven.
03:05 He's still doing it.
03:06 Look at Raheem.
03:07 He's still doing it.
03:08 It's not that every running back is worthy of getting the top pay, but they're definitely,
03:11 when the guys are playing at that level, they should get the opportunity to go get that.
03:14 Let me say what I think.
03:15 I played in Dallas for a while.
03:19 I played with the Raiders.
03:20 I played in Dallas for a while.
03:21 I had Zeke.
03:22 He was my teammate.
03:23 What I've noticed is, like you said, oh, he's slowing down.
03:27 There's not longevity.
03:28 And the way I look at it is you're not using him the same.
03:32 If Zeke is a guy one year and you're giving the ball 25 times a game and then the next
03:38 year TP comes in and you only hand Zeke the ball 15 times a game, he is not going to produce
03:44 the same way he did when you gave him 25.
03:47 Is he slowing down or are you not giving him the ball the same?
03:50 There's all these scenarios, but at the end of the day, I feel like they do know the value.
03:55 It played out in my situation where I wanted to go get a trade.
03:57 When I was like, "Hey, they're not going to extend you, Austin.
03:59 All right, they're not going to extend me.
04:00 Let me go get a trade."
04:01 They're like, "Okay, we'll let you go get a trade, but we need a first round pick."
04:03 It was like, "Wait a minute.
04:06 Wait a minute.
04:07 Wait a minute."
04:08 Talk to them, Austin.
04:09 So when I want to talk to you and I want to get an extension, you won't even give me
04:12 any number that's any worthy of something that I've been playing at, at the level I've
04:16 been playing at.
04:17 So you went to go trade.
04:18 Now you're like, "Oh, I want a first round pick," because that's what you're worth.
04:20 They don't make no sense.
04:21 So now I'm worth a first round pick, but to you I'm not, but to other people you're saying
04:24 that I should be.
04:25 Yeah.
04:26 So there was some backwards thinking there that was kind of a little funky with me and
04:30 going on there.
04:31 So it's like they're using their leverage, and sometimes that can fire back against you.
04:37 And so, yeah, we did feel disrespected when they put that franchise tag.
04:40 It's just the franchise in general.
04:41 We saw it happen to the safeties.
04:42 We saw it happen to the tight ends.
04:44 It happened to actually the long snappers one time.
04:46 And now that just happened to us last year.
04:48 And so it's something that it's in the CBA.
04:50 It sucks because it locks us into a one-year deal, and we take all the risk.
04:54 Especially if you had a great year, they can do it to you again.
04:55 Especially your first round.
04:56 You can get locked in.
04:57 You can do it again.
04:58 Kurt did it like two or three times.
04:59 I know.
05:00 It's so bad.
05:01 It's so bad.
05:02 But we're always trying to create this system and try to make it better.
05:04 And so that's one of those things that we got to decide, "Hey, do we want to get rid
05:07 of this as a union and try to fight for this?"
05:09 But yeah, so look, I'm proud of our guys.
05:12 I'm proud of these guys that have gone out.
05:14 We got some young guys showing up.
05:15 We got some older guys showing up as well.
05:16 But just as running backs, we got to continue to make value for the team, which we do.
05:19 This is what we've always done.
05:21 And then we got to continue to advocate for ourselves.
05:24 Let's get off the hot seat.
05:25 Let's get off the hot seat.
05:26 Let's talk about the Super Bowl.
05:28 Let's talk about it.
05:29 Is Christian McCaffrey the X-factor in the game?
05:32 Yeah, absolutely.
05:33 This man is Mr. Consistent, plays at a high level.
05:36 When he gets the ball in his hands, he's dynamic.
05:38 You can throw it to him.
05:39 You can hand it to him.
05:41 He's good at the goal line.
05:42 He's good in the open space.
05:43 He can get open in routes.
05:44 The dude is, he is him.
05:46 He's that guy.
05:47 He is him.
05:48 He needs to be, I need them to win so he can go be MVP of the Super Bowl.
05:51 And so we can be like, look, look at our RBs go.
05:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:54 Look at our RBs go, man.
05:55 There we go.
05:56 Let's go.
05:57 Same thing with Pacheco, though.
05:58 He can still do it for his team.
05:59 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
06:00 Okay, so you talked about Christian.
06:01 Obviously, you play against the Chiefs twice a year.
06:04 Talk to me about that defense.
06:06 Do you think they have a shot in stopping CMC?
06:09 Is their defense cold?
06:12 I think they have a good matchup against them.
06:14 As best as they're probably going to get.
06:15 They've got Nick Bolton, who's a super athletic linebacker.
06:18 They also have Drew, who I know, he's one of my former teammates.
06:21 We played.
06:22 I know he's extremely athletic, too.
06:23 He was a safety in college, converted to a linebacker.
06:25 So you know he's got that skill to be able to move in space and cover.
06:29 And so I think they have the best chance.
06:31 I think it's still going to be really hard because this dude is just, he is elite and
06:34 he is different.
06:35 One of the best, I think, to ever do it.
06:38 And he'll continue to prove that, I think, over and over.
06:40 He has when he's been on the field.
06:41 So they've got a chance, but I don't think you can.
06:44 I don't think you can.
06:45 Because here's the thing, not only is it just containing Christian, but you've got to contain
06:48 the rest of the offense, too.
06:49 So if you contain Christian, who's guarding these other guys?
06:52 Who's guarding Debo, Brandon Iyuk, Kittle?
06:56 So they've got problems.
06:57 They've got problems with their defense.
06:58 So who do you have winning the game?
07:02 I don't have either of them winning the game.
07:03 I don't care who wins the game.
07:04 I know you don't care, but who do you have trying to win?
07:05 Here's what I care.
07:06 I don't care.
07:07 Someone's got to win.
07:08 I don't care who the hell it is.
07:09 I care that guys get through healthy and I want our running backs to pop off.
07:13 So running backs pop off.
07:14 He said, "I don't give a damn about none of the red teams.
07:16 The red team's both going to play.
07:18 I don't care about the Chiefs.
07:19 I don't care about the Niners."
07:20 Okay, Austin, I love vanilla ice cream.
07:24 And when I think about Dairy Queen, I think about a vanilla large, vanilla cone.
07:28 Talk to me about the partnership.
07:30 We're talking Super Bowl.
07:31 If you're not at the game, you're probably watching it from home, right?
07:34 If you're watching from home, you've got to have an assortment of food.
07:38 You've got to have a good array of food where people can go, because that's part of the
07:41 experience, right?
07:42 We've got food, we've got drinks, we've got the whole thing.
07:43 We're watching the game.
07:44 And so Dairy Queen has stepped up this year and they're giving us some more options.
07:47 We know from the iconic blizzard, you know, they hand it to you, it doesn't fall out of
07:50 the cup.
07:51 They do that.
07:52 But now we're talking some chicken strips.
07:54 We got some honey barbecue, toss and sauce chicken strips.
07:57 So we got some chicken strips that they're putting on the menu and they're spicing up.
08:01 They're bringing some new menu items to their menu for us for Super Bowl.
08:05 So it's looking great, man.
08:06 And then also, right, they got some burger selections as well, but putting food back
08:11 on the menu and really trying to highlight food this year for DQ.
08:14 I've been a fan, all of us are fans of the blizzard, but definitely check out some chicken
08:18 strips for the Super Bowl.
08:19 Ladies and gentlemen, Austin Eckler.
08:21 [WHOOSH]